Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer working in the early Romantic era. His ever-popular Ave Maria was composed in 1825 as No.6 of his Op. 52, a setting of seven songs from SirWalterScott’s epic poem The Lady Of The Lake. The text came from a part of the poem called Ellen’s Song.

The melody has been re-used many times, and is often set to the Catholic Prayer that starts with thesamephrase (“Hail Mary” in English). Most memorab...